The Riders

Jenna Cuddeback

1

They sweep into
our village at moonrise.
The
Riders. Behind their backs the Old-timers call them the Raiders, for
they
comb the streets for migrant laborers, they feed well from our houses
and
take the best of us children, yet we children play games where we
pretend
we too are Riders. Father says we live well under them. The Riders
defend
our borders for there are many races of people who look on our lands
with
envious eyes and would take it from us if they but dared the anger of
the
Riders. Our village prospers. They are our captors as well, for we are
defenseless without them. In payment for their protection, they take
children
like me. Old-timers say they feed the children to their dragons.

I huddle under
the stuffy safety of my
quilt.

A heavy wind, a
throbbing heartbeat; the
Riders
are landing. Their voices crackle the night, like chilly sea breezes
rustling
chintz curtains.

"Rise. Come. We
command it."

I roll out of
bed and draw on my slacks
and
tunic. I pull on my shoes and dash down the stairs. I race out the
door,
cut across the lane, and dart around the people.

The leader is
the same man; Old-timers
say
the Riders do not age. For generations the same five men have come to
take
what they desire and part on the same five wild beasts. The Riders are
as old as the land itself, as old as fire, dragons, and war. They came
to our people long ago from the cold mountains across the sea and they
pledged to protect us...for a fee we still pay. They used to come every
four years to collect their dues. Father says their mysteries aren't
for
us, but still we children wonder why six years have passed since last
they
came.

The leader
strides forward, a curl of
dragon-breath
sweeping his cape majestically. He looks neither left nor right. His
face
is stone, and his blood-colored eyes are like tallow from church
candles.

Abruptly he
stops, and draws his arm into
his
cloak. In one movement, he removes his dragon medallion and holds it
aloft.
The dragon's eyes shine a frothy red. That means someone has been
chosen.
I look quickly, spy my family, and scurry to stand by them as an oldest
son should.

The leader
signals his men. They move
like
fog to him. He points to me. "That one." He barks. Then he returns to
the
dragons. The men approach me like wild cats around a bird's nest.

"This way, son,"
One says gruffly, taking
hold
of me. I jerk away from his grip and trail the leader. When I reach the
front of the crowd, he turns to face me.

"On your knees."

I obey
immediately.

"You are the
oldest in your family?" The
leader
asks.

"Aye, sir." I
answer. The leader stares
into
my eyes. I stare back, without blinking. My eyes grow hot and my hands
sweat, but I do not look away. Finally he nods and I blink my dry eyes.

"Rise." He looks
across the crowd for a
breathless
eternity. "Very well, then." He smiles at me. "You will come with us."

I hear Mother
wail, and Father sob.

Villagers crowd
close to my parents to
comfort
them. My friends shy away, spooked like children from a ghost. The
leader
guides me through the crowd, gripping my arm with supernatural force. I
bite my lip 'til I taste blood, not wanting him to think me weak.
Someone
begins chanting a song for the dead, but is quickly silenced. We stop
before
my family.

"Get the boy's
things." The leader orders
Mother.
Then, he turns to face Father. "Your son will be well-treated. Do not
fear
for him; you have done right by him thus far. He shows promise."

"We won't see
him again." Father's voice
is
dead.

"Rest assured,
he will be well-kept. Do
not
fear for him."

"Pray tell, Sir
Rider, why my son?"

"It is my
business and none of your own.
Do
not meddle in the affairs of the Riders. What is your name?"

"I am Shane."
Father says proudly,
lifting
his shoulders.

"Very well. Son
of Shane, say your
fare-wells."

Mother returns,
the baby and my
year-younger
brother with her. She hands me a sack and kisses my cheek. I flick my
fingers
at the little one and take my year-younger brother's hand.

"You are the
oldest now. Take care of our
family."
I whisper. He shakes my hand firmly.

The leader nods.
"Follow me." He fades
into
the night.

I salute my
father. As I walk away I
understand
I will never see them again.

I approach the
dragon with the leader. He
takes
my bundle, tossing it to another Rider with one arm while seating me on
the dragon with the other. I grip the saddle as he mounts behind me.

"Hold on tight."
The leader says. The
dragon
leaps up, and I cry out. We fly until it seems we will collide with the
stars, and then we turn. The dragons know the way; we fly over the
glistening
Black Sea striped by the moon's silver path. We fly far from my
village,
farther than I could hope to travel alone. I begin to shake from cold,
loneliness and fear. I look back into the leader's soft blood-tallow
eyes.

"Sleep, son. The
flight is a long one. I
will
not let you fall." I close my eyes. I lean against the leader and I
drift,
half-asleep. I feel the wind rushing on to meet me for all of eternity
and a year beyond, and then we land.

...

I open my eyes
and sit up.

"The boy rises."
A rusty voice echoes.
Slowly
I shove back my blankets and rise. I gaze around. I am in a cell of
some
sort, with a hard mat on the floor and rock walls. And a grid iron
door.

"It's not
locked." The same voice says. I
push
on the door, and it creaks open. I step out into a narrow hallway.

A Rider awaits
me, tall, with graying
hair
and gray-green eyes. His hands have a slight tremble and his back is
hunched.
He beckons me to follow him and we pass from the dungeon into a
courtyard
with flowers that glitter in the sunlight. The Rider leads me through
an
arched doorway. Within, this palace has a vaulted ceiling, lush
tapestries,
and snow-white walls; not a place of defense, but one of pure
decoration.
A large staircase leads to a central dais, where suns, moons, and stars
adorn the walls. Hanging plants waft in the morning wind, and a handful
of girls crouch at a table over some mysterious game. My escort bows.

"Kiel will see
you in a moment." Then, he
is
gone. One girl approaches me.

"Who are you?"
She asks. She does not
look
much older than me.

"I am Aaron, son
of Shane." I respond,
looking
at her with frank curiosity. Her almond eyes and wheat-colored skin are
like nothing in my village.

"You are now
Arik, son of Kiel."

I slowly look
up. A tall man built like a
willow-tree
stands on the dais in dark blue robes. His hair and beard are thinning
gold with gray streaks. His mesmerizing eyes are maroon, flicked with
amber
like birds' eggs and his hands are flecked with age-spots, and seeing
those
eyes gives me pause, for those are the eyes of the leader. In daylight,
without his black robes and cowls, he is far less frightening. "I am
Kiel,
the only father you have now. I have named you Arik, and so you will be
called."

"Sir, I prefer
my name."

"I've no doubt,
Arik, and that is noble
of
you. It is wise for you to give loyalty to me, now. I will provide for
you. I will send Shane any wages you earn, Arik. You are my apprentice.
You will acknowledge me as your father and you will be called Arik."
Kiel's
voice becomes softer.

"You have met
Asyah; she too is one of my
children.
All my children are your sisters and brothers. You are older than most;
I am glad I found you when I did. The stable boys and the shepherds
that
tend this land are not in our family. They will be leaving soon, to be
shipped away."

"Will I be
shipped away someday?" I ask.
My
eyes roam freely about the dais, memorizing every detail from the
velvet
and gold rugs to the small jeweled fountain.

"Never. I will
keep you here. I have
special
plans for you."

"Why do you need
me?"

"You will be
taking care of my own
dragon.
This is a heavy responsibility for you, but I will assist you as long
as
you need me. In time, you will come to treat my dragon as yours.
Perhaps,
if you perform as I know you are capable, the dragon will be yours."

"Tell me why I
was kidnapped."

"You were
chosen, Arik." Kiel will say no
more
to me about it. He dismisses Asyah with a wave of a hand. "Now, son, we
will go survey my land." He descends the staircase, places an arm
around
my shoulder, and guides me to the courtyard. "Then we will find you a
room,
Arik." When he smiles, I can't help but smile in return....

Kiel leads me
through all of the
main-floor
rooms in this castle.

"Here, Arik, is
where you will take your
education
with the other children. It is imperative to me that you spend a good
deal
of your time in your studies. You are older than the other children, so
do not be upset if they understand things you do not know yet --
remember,
they have been learning longer from us. Never forget that I chose you
for
a purpose elevated above theirs. What I see in you is more important
than
anything you could possibly learn here except this: There are few
places
in this world where knowledge is treasured, though we hope this will
not
always be true. Wisdom, Arik, is a gift we must seek. It is not given
to
us."

"I don't..."

"No, I didn't
expect you to, yet. You
will,
in time, understand." A passionate fire lights Kiel's eyes, and he
gazes
around us with pride. This place is obviously of vast importance to
him.
It must be linked to his strange ideas of wisdom as a gift, though his
words don't mean much to me as I, too, gaze about. We are in one of two
enormous rooms with low tables and pillows on the floor, one where the
walls are covered in parchment with strange pictures of circles with
places
marked on them, places that look like flattened villages and other
castles.
In the other, which I can see through an open doorway, the walls are
fitted
with shelves holding strange, fancy quills and scrolls and small bound
books. Those books I recognize, for they were of the same type in which
I once recorded sales and orders of candles for my father Shane. These
two rooms border the north side of the courtyard; the south side is the
throne room and, Kiel told me, this family's living quarters. The east
side is one long, low building in which the walls are divided into
solid
shelves of books, not just smaller books like the primers
schoolchildren
sometimes have but thick, large books written in more than one
language.

"Kiel, where
have you gathered so many
books
from?"

"From all
corners of the world we have
been
collecting them, not just me but all those who came before me, and I
know
that those who come after me will continue our tradition and preserve
this
knowledge."

"The world has
corners?"

"No....the world
is indeed round, the
other
is simply an expression."

"Then our world
is not so small as my
village,
and the mountains, and the sea between?"

"The world is a
bigger place than you
have
yet imagined, Arik, in even your most fanciful hours. But come. I wish
to show you the west border, for you will spend much time passing
through
there."

The west
building bordering the courtyard
is
to me the most amazing. From there one could overlook the valley near
the
mountain. I can see houses, smoke puffing from the chimneys and flocks
grazing on the grass.

"This small town
is part of our land.
Those
people do us service, because they tend our flocks and see to our
domestic
cares. My housekeepers and serving girls and boys come from that
village,
as do any seamstresses or cobblers we need. Those people are my
responsibility
as much as these here are in Rider Hall. The difference is that those
people
there choose to live in the dimness of the valley with the placid
clouds
and distant sun than live here on the peaks, where the air is brisk and
cold and the sky is just above our outstretched fingers. They are not
family,
but they are my responsibility."

I step away from
the open windows and
look
around. This room has all the air of a dining room, but an immense one.
I could see the door leading to the kitchen, and when I turned the
other
way I saw a spiral staircase that led down, into the floor, and beyond.
Kiel followed my gaze.

"I have one
other place to show you this
day,
Arik, and it is the place you will spend much of your time."

I follow him
down the winding staircase
into
a stone tunnel. It winds about, but we cannot get lost -- the path is
well
lit by small lamps that twinkle, underground stars. We emerge on a
ledge.
Descending from the ledge is a series of broad stone steps, but before
we begin descending I turn and look behind me. I can see the castle,
and
now I can make out the beautiful turrets and the fine, proud flags,
which
flutter like a girl's unbraided hair in the breeze. I catch my breath,
then turn and follow Kiel down the steps. I see even now that he takes
them slowly and cautiously, and at first I think he is reverent until I
see how he keeps one hand on the rock face. Then I realize that he is
afraid
of falling.

"Is something
wrong, Kiel?" I ask, in
spite
of myself.

"I dislike
heights." Kiel replies softly.
Then
he ceases speaking and I allow my eyes to wander ahead of us down the
steps,
into the crescent-shaped valley that is our destination. This valley
reminds
me in part of a small cove, except a cove of land, because it is
surrounded
on three sides by sheer rock but one side -- the front -- is open to
the
sea. Over the water I see birds flying, and then something passes
overhead
and dips into the valley and I see it is one of the dragons.

I hasten around
Kiel and run down the
stairs.
Cut into the rocks under the very staircase we had descended is a large
cavern, lined with sand.

"Calm, Arik, the
dragons won't go
anywhere."
Kiel places a hand on my shoulder. We gaze into the cavern for a moment
or two, but it is empty.

"Is this where
they sleep?" I ask.

"Yes. Like
field-beasts they must have a
place
to rest, but they are never kept here by force. This structure was here
before the current Rider Hall was constructed. These dragons have
always
lived here and will until the end of time. They fish in the seas and
they
come and go at their leisure, often spending their time sunning in this
valley or down on the beaches. They never leave these mountain regions.
We tend them, keep them clean and forge trust with them. Do not forget
that they do not need us, Arik, and never have. They are not of
intelligence
like ours, but of the intelligence of beasts and could easily return to
the wild. They do not need us, but we need them." Here, Kiel turns and
cups his hands to his mouth. He tips back his head and let out a
keening
cry. Some creature just over the rocky drop-off from the valley to the
sea answers him, and moments later a dragon fills the entrance. It
hovers
for a moment there, dripping crystal water from its immense, svelte,
black
body. Then it flies low over us and into the cavern. It settles down on
the sand and regards Kiel and myself with unblinking green eyes.

I stand
petrified; if Kiel were not with
me
I would be running now. The dragon looks even larger than it did last
night.

"What do you
call it?" I whisper.

Kiel's voice is
a low chuckle. "I have
always
called her my Queen."

"It is female?"
I look back at the
dragon.
She yawns, and then brings her head close to me, placing one green eye
near my face, and I can see nearly my whole person in that
all-devouring
green. This close, I can even see the black center of her eye. I bite
my
lip and do not move. She lets out a sigh through her nostrils, and my
clothes
flap slightly in the gust. Then she pulls her face back and looks
towards
Kiel. She tilts her head empirically, and he smiles.

"I will return,
my Queen, and oil your
skin
shortly. Now I must take our new son home."

As if the dragon
can understand him, she
settles
back with her head bowed on her breast like a bird and half-closes
those
large eyes. Then Kiel places a strong hand on my shoulder and guides me
back towards the stone steps up to the ledge.

"Come, son. I
will take you to your room,
and
you will have some time to meet your family and explore the upstairs of
the Hall. I rarely go upstairs -- all the important rooms are on ground
level -- but you may find things of interest for the time being. Enjoy
today. This evening you will come to the formal dinner with our family.
Tomorrow early you will begin your lessons with Rikki and Torrence, and
in the afternoon I will bring you here again until my Queen becomes
used
to you."

"Will I someday
ride that dragon?" I ask.

Kiel's eyes pass
over my face for a
moment,
and for a moment I see his young self in his eyes, and can picture him
asking that same question. "Perhaps, someday, you will be ready," is
his
noncommittal reply and we ascend to the ledge in silence.

2

"Rikki, I wrote
the words once. Why
should
I do it again?" I ask, dropping my quill into my inkwell and glaring at
the older man, the same Rider who took me that first day to my audience
with Kiel. He and I have been butting heads this past month, for every
day I am brought to this room with the tables and the pillows and
forced
to write long and difficult words until my fingers are cramped around
the
quill. Then, just as my eyes begin to hurt, I am summoned from the
tables
by the Rider Torrence, and taken to the room with the maps, and called
upon to name villages and places and landmasses. Torrence I do not mind
so much, for he turns red when angry, and jumps up and down on one
foot,
and then storms out and calls for the Rider Julian to finish my
lessons.
Julian takes me from the map room to the room with books -- the library
-- and endeavors to teach me what he calls history. He is wrong, for
history
is the chants the Old-timers sing to children. When Julian finally
casts
me from the library I am allowed no rest. Rider Sorn collects me and we
return to the first room with the adding-books and I am set to learn my
numbers, and more complex numbers than those I learned while working
with
my father Shane. Sorn I find hard to understand for his voice betrays
that
he does not speak his native tongue when he speaks to me. Of the four
Riders
who serve as my teachers I like his company most of all, for he
respects
me and does not command. I am most loath to be called away from him,
but
called away I often am for Rikki will come for a second try and I will
be forced to write again.

"Because you
have written them all wrong,
Arik,"
Rikki snaps at me, and I can see the small muscle in his left cheek set
to twitching.

"But I wrote
them." I reply.

Rikki sighs.
"You win. Torrence!"

"Torrence is
with Asyah now. Julian has
the
young boys and Sorn the young girls. If you are tired of his company I
will take Arik off your hands." Kiel steps into the room. Rikki and I
sigh
together in relief.

"He is yours,
Kiel. And he is in a
difficult
mood today."

Kiel glances to
me, one eyebrow raised.
"Arik?
Difficult? Never." Then he beckons me with one finger and I rise and
follow
him from the room.

"You have been
causing headaches for my
men,
Arik. But even so they like you; they have told me so. Sorn tells me
you
have a talent for numbers, and Rikki says you do well when you choose
in
writing words. But you balk at learning your history, Arik. I do not
understand
that. What would you be if you did not know all that came before? You
would
be empty."

"But, Father
Kiel, what good does it do
me
to know when the first Riders settled the mountains, or when the first
village began, or when my people learned how to make plowed fields, or
when we began to take in flocks? All these things happened and are done
and are not happening now. Why should I know them?"

I have said
something wrong; Kiel's eyes
are
sad and he shakes his head.

"Arik, you do
not understand. If you do
not
know these things then your life is without reason for being and you
are
no more than those peasants down in that valley, choosing half-light
over
bright sunlight because the sunlight hurts your eyes." Here Kiel shakes
his head. "We will have done with the lessons for a time; that will not
hurt you. There is an equal responsibility upon you. Come, we must go
to
the Queen."

...

We enter the
cavern. The Queen is resting
in
a patch of sunlit sand, and as we block her sunlight she lazily opens
one
green eye and flicks a long, red tongue towards us like a snake. Then
she
closes her eye again.

"Queen, pretty
one, we've come to rub
your
skin soft again." Kiel says softly. He moves to the wall and lifts from
a shelf a small pot. He removes the lid and the Queen sits up, her
tongue
flicking out over her lips and her nostrils flared wide. She rolls to
her
feet and stretches her wings and her slim neck. There she stands like
an
immense black-marble statue.

Kiel dips an old
rag into the pot and
walks
over to Queen. He begins to rub the rag over her front leg, slowly in a
circular motion.

"Arik, there is
another rag on the shelf.
Go
get it, and come help me." His voice never changes from that peaceful
coaxing.

I fetch the rag
and dip it in the pot. I
sniff
the air. It smells of sweet oil. "What are we doing?"

"Salt water
makes their skins tough. We
have
stable boys from that village who tend the other dragons -- while I
watch,
of course -- but I always tend to the Queen myself. The bond between
lead
rider and lead dragon is strong and must be kept so, for she is only
ever
truly loyal to one man. Now it is I. Someday..." His voice trails off
and
I join him in rubbing the oil into the dragon's skin. She is not scaly
as I had thought though this has the look of scales -- instead her skin
is supple, smooth and hairless except around the nose where she has
whiskers
and around the eye where she has eyelashes.

As we rub the
oil on the dragon's skin,
Kiel
begins to speak. "There was a time when there were no dragons and no
men
in the mountains, when the land was covered with ice. Then in time the
ice was gone, and a man followed the receding ice into the mountains.
He
formed from the black rocks a creature he called dragon and fashioned
from
his own soul a soul for the dragon. Once it had a soul it had life.
Once
the dragon had life it became faithful to the man.

"In time that
man became ill, and he
feared
to leave the dragon alone, so he showed it how to create other dragons.
The dragon created for itself four companions, but many years passed
and
the dragons grew lonely, so they came down from the mountain and
brought
up people with them to live here in peace.

"That dragon,
Arik, is this one we call
Queen.
She is immortal, and she has part of the soul of a man though she has
not
his intelligence. That is why we treat her so, and respect her. That is
why we care for her so well. She is a creature of wonder and fierce
beauty.
You must tend her with caution, Arik. I have shown you how to oil her
and
how to sift the sand and clean out the cave, and I have shown you how
to
call her in. I have shown you all I will, and now you must learn for
yourself
the other things. She needs to have her claws cleaned and sharpened,
and
her teeth cleaned. Her wings must be tended and oiled. You must
memorize
the parts of the tack used in riding her, and you must grow tall enough
to mount her unaided. Then, someday, son, you will be allowed to fly on
her."

I glance around
me. Hanging on the wall
is
a line of leather ropes and thick blankets and smooth seats curved to
fit
over a broad dragon back. There are many smaller pieces, such as might
fit around her eyes or ears or even her paws.

"There are too
many things to learn," I
protest.
Kiel looks at me, one eyebrow raised.

"I am
disappointed at your lack of faith,
Arik,"
he replies. Then he pats the Queen on her side. "Continue working with
her, and do not return until she has been completely oiled and her
teeth
cleaned."

He sweeps from
the cavern and takes to
the
steps, not even glancing back to me as I gaze up after him. He reaches
the ledge and vanishes into the tunnel beyond.

I step back into
the cavern.

The Queen turns
her face towards me, and
holds
me whole in her enormous green eyes. I swallow hard, and I think for a
moment that I see a malicious smile on her face. Then she makes a low
noise
in her throat and nudges me with her face quite forcefully. I return to
my solitary task, moving delicately around her as though at any moment
she might decide that perhaps I should not be in such close quarters
with
her.

She gives me no
trouble until I take up a
brush
and approach her to clean her teeth. She bares them at me, and backs
away
hissing. I stand still, whispering to her, and then she charges at me.
I turn and run and reach the mouth of the cavern just as she takes to
the
air, and her tail knocks me end over end into the wall as she makes her
escape. She makes a pass overhead and shrieks defiantly, then circles
down
and lands before me, green eyes glowing. I stand up and she crouches
down
lower. I drop the toothbrush and cover my face, but she instantly
becomes
calm and passes me to reenter the cavern. I take up the toothbrush and
look closely at it. I notice only then how rough the bristles are, and
I set it down and pick up a softer bristled brush. Then I approach her
again. She crouches low but will not open her mouth, and as we never
had
animals at my house I do not know what to do.

"Come on,
Queenie. Open wide." I coax,
rubbing
my hand under her jaw. Her eyes slide closed until she watches me
through
narrow slits. Then, slowly, her mouth opens and I eagerly thrust the
toothbrush
at her face.

Moments later I
am brushing the sand out
of
my face and shaking my head to clear the ringing sound in my ears. The
Queen is regarding me curiously, the paw she just used to knock me away
still raised to defend herself. I sigh and sit down, leaning against
the
cavern wall.

"What am I going
to do, Queenie? Kiel
wants
me to do this. Come on, girl. Please?" I whine, and slowly she
approaches.
She lowers her head to my chest and opens her mouth wide, looking at
me.
I pick up the toothbrush, wipe off the sand, and move it towards her
mouth.
Then I pause. Beside me there is a pail of water and I cautiously dip
the
toothbrush in the water. Then I begin brushing along her teeth and gums
slowly, not wanting to let my fingers get too far inside that gaping
maw
lest she decide to close it suddenly. She is patient with me. As I
withdraw
the toothbrush to rinse it in the pail she lets out a low purring noise
and moves back. Then I watch in wonder as she extends a wing towards
me.
She is nearly at a height where I can reach her back...I stand up
slowly
and walk towards her, and she watches me with those wise eyes. I reach
for her side, thinking to swing myself onto her back.

She lunges
forward and I swing myself up
and
over her tail to land in the sand. Immediately the Queen turns and is
all
solicitude, flicking her red forked tongue over my face in a gesture of
apology or, perhaps, forgiveness. I rise and again wipe the sand from
my
face. I return to the pot and set to sullenly oiling her wings, but
before
too long I am in good spirits again and even whistling as I softly rub
the oil into those long, rough wings. It is dinnertime when I finish,
and
as I put away the pot the Queen takes off out of the cave, again
knocking
me end over end with her tail. She does not even turn around but flies
resolutely towards the sea, and I set off up the stairs, cursing the
bruises
I can begin to feel on my body.

...

At dinner I sit
alone and sulk, casting
dark
glances every so often towards Kiel and the other Riders, my teachers.
When I entered, still sandy and with bruises, they laughed to behold
me.

"Good day, Arik.
May I?" With those
words,
the girl named Asyah sits down across from me. She wrinkles her nose on
looking at my face.

"Did you get
into fisticuffs with one of
the
village boys?" She asks, her voice dropping low.

"No," I reply
haughtily and turn my full
attention
to dinner. Asyah watches me for a few moments, then shrugs and sets to
eating her own food.

"If you are
going to be our brother you
should
sit with us. Only the shepherds eat at the back of the dining hall."
She
tells me, and then turns around and waves one hand to someone beyond
us.
Moments later I am deluged by a flood of young children, most of them
girls.

"Father may not
have told you, but our
family
is large, for the children number more than fifteen. You haven't been
here
too long, but in time you will come to see how good this place is. If I
were not here I would be working in fields from dawn to dusk and then
married
before I was fourteen," Asyah tells me, smiling at me. I look at her
for
a long moment.

"If I were not
here I would be helping my
father
at the candlepress, or teaching my brothers how to weave wicks, or
showing
my little sisters how to stir the tallow."

"Then you feel
you were well enough off
back
with that family?" Asyah asks.

"Yes." I take
the last bite on my plate
and
a serving boy clears my place.

"Arik, may I sit
with you again tomorrow?
I
think you and I will come to be good friends." Asyah asks hesitantly. I
pretend to consider, but there isn't anybody else here I know to sit
with,
so I shrug.

"I s'pose." I
reply, then turn and leave
the
dining hall.

...

I rise to the
sound of steady knocking at
my
bedroom door. I sit up for a moment, remembering where I am and why my
body aches. I glance around, see the carved wood statues and the cool
blues
of the tapestries on my walls, the silver sheen of the floor and the
painful
to the eye brightness of the white walls, and I remember I am not at
Shane's
home. I am at Rider Hall now. I rise and move slowly to the door.

Kiel stands
there, dressed today in
purple
robes. He smiles at me.

"Good morrow,
Son. You look as though you
had
a trying day with the Queen yesterday. But you have learned how to
clean
her teeth now?"

"You knew I'd
get knocked around."

"Yes."

"You coulda told
me how to clean her
teeth!"

"You had to
learn in the only way you
would
remember, Arik. I taught you the same way the previous leader of the
Riders
taught me. Rise and dress, for you have this full day of training
before
we change plans again."

I do not like
the sound of that last
part,
but I close the door and change swiftly into a brown tunic and pants. I
draw on my old, worn boots and return to the door. Kiel has already
moved
to the stairs, and is descending them slowly. I follow him at a small
distance.

Once on the main
level we move swiftly
through
the courtyard to the dining hall and the spiral staircase. I take the
stairs
from the stone ledge quickly, and enter the cavern. The Queen is there,
and she looks at me and again I could swear she smiled, a playful look
to her green eyes.

Then Kiel is
behind me and he pulls me to
the
wall.

"Today you are
not here to tend the
dragon,
but to learn the tack. I do have boys who are specifically paid to
clean
the tack after we ride, but you must learn how to check it for strength
and durability, how to clean it and how to oil it and how to work it
until
it is flexible."

"Do you train
all of your children like
this?"
I ask.

He glances at
me. "No. Only the ones who
must
learn." He points to the wall. "The ones with the green trim are yours.
Keep them separate from all the other tack. This is your mouthpiece, it
fits over her nose and cinches under her jaw, but she can still open
her
mouth. These are blinders; they fit one on the outside of each eye and
are used when we are flying on a mission so that prey does not distract
her. This is a rein, and it loops from the mouthpiece to the rider, who
sits on the saddle. This is the saddle, and this is the saddle blanket.
This is a claw restraint. We do not want her accidentally tearing
things,
so we place one of these on each paw before flight, and it covers her
claws.
This is the tail restraint, and it is important. These dragons lash
their
tails when they become agitated or impatient. When the Rider dismounts,
he must take this loop extending from the saddle and lasso the dragon's
tail in the unattached end. With her tail fastened to her body, though
loosely, the dragon overcomes the urge to lash her tail."

"That is so much
to remember at once." I
protest,
though each item is obviously meant for its purpose alone and it would
be hard to mix them up.

"Master Rikki, I
have finished the
writing
and you will see that I have done precisely as you ordered. May I be
dismissed?"
I ask. Rikki purses his lips, looks over my thin scratched letters and
sighs. My penmanship has improved these past three months, but I know
it
is not yet what Rikki desires.

"Very well. Go
to Master Julian; he
wished
me to send you to him." Rikki gestures towards the door.

"I usually spend
this time with Kiel at
the
cavern." I reply, and I feel a hard edge in my voice. Rikki glances at
me, then looks back down at my papers.

"That is not the
plan for today." Kiel
says
from the doorway. "You must now devote yourself again to lessons. You
must
master both, and you cannot master your lessons if you are always at
the
caverns."

"Why didn't you
say anything earlier?"

"I knew you
would take it like this,
Arik.
Go to Julian."

"Yes, Father
Kiel." I snap, then move in
white
wrath from the instruction building. I walk blindly towards the
library,
but stop a moment in the heart of the courtyard. The sound of children
playing reaches me, and it reminds me of being home with Shane and my
family.
Sharp pains; I double over for a moment, clutching my stomach.

"Why would he do
this?" I ask, though I
direct
my question to no one in particular. "Why would Kiel do this to me?
What
did I ever do?"

"I have no
choice, Arik, son. You will
understand
in time. You will forget about missing them. This is your home, your
family."
Kiel says behind me, and I turn. He stands there with Sorn and Rikki.

"Let me be." I
snarl, then run towards
the
library blinded by tears. I hear Sorn's parting comments.

"It is as hard
to gain his trust as it is
to
tame the Queen."

Julian greets me
at the library door,
saying
nothing of the tears on my face. He indicates that I should sit, and
hands
me a ledger. "I am disappointed in your recitation, Arik. I had hoped
for
more."

"Look, I didn't
ask to be brought here
and
I didn't ask you to teach me, so do you think I care what you want out
of me?"

"No need for
harsh words, Arik. Look over
this
ledger and then you will give me a recitation later." Julian leaves the
library and I am alone with the ledger.

I throw it
across the room, but moments
later
it is in my hands again and Asyah is standing before me, her hands over
mine. She has been like a shadow behind me since I arrived, and I
gather
that she once had an older brother long ago, but as long as she has
been
here, she has been the oldest. She wants an older brother again. I want
no part of being a brother to her or to any of the others here. I like
them, and sometimes I can even bring myself to play with the little
ones
as I used to back at Shane's home. Then, the memories set in of the
happy
times and I want nothing to do with this family.

"Please,
brother, don't be upset by
Julian.
He is a good man." She urges. "Come, I can help you. I know the history
inside and out by heart. I will quiz you. Let me help you, brother."

I know she means
well, but I am insulted.
"You
are not my sister, and I do not need your help. I don't need any of you
and I didn't ask to come here. If I wanted to learn this I could, but I
don't care about any of it. I want to go home where I belong. I hate
this
place."

Asyah's eyes
widen. "You can't go back.
You
belong with us now."

"I don't belong
here. Who needs to belong
in
a place where little kids and field-girls tell them what to do?"

Now her eyes
narrow and I know I have
insulted
her. "I might have been born a field-girl but I have the sense to be
thankful
when I am given a blessing. You stupid...boy... you don't know enough
to
thank those who are giving you the world. You want to go back? I don't
see anyone stopping you. Go back, and none of us will miss you. But if
you go back, what will you go back to? You don't belong there any
more."
She throws a sheaf of papers into my face and runs from the library.

"Hey, come back
here!" I shout, but she
does
not answer. I look at the papers now scattered on the floor. Then I
stand
up and storm out of the library, crossing to the dining hall. I look
out
the grand windows, down on the village below. I can see clouds drifting
above the village in the valley. I think I can see a woman drawing
water
from a well, and some boys lazing on a hillside while their sheep feed.
Shadows cross the fields below me, and I can hear the winds pushing
steadily
through the valley. Half-sunlight, I think. I remember what Kiel said
about
the dimness of the valley compared to the light of this Hall. I turn
and
look around again, and think of all the beautiful things I have seen
here.

The dilemma
turns over and over in my
mind.
I miss my father and mother back in my village, but because there were
seven children and a candle-making business to run, I never had any
time
with either of them. My brothers and I were not close, and my sisters
were
peskier than anything else. There was always a squawling baby in
diapers
and always at least one child sick with something. We worked from dawn
till dusk in the candle-press and our only day of rest was the Festival
of the Sun, the day where the village was in sunlight for the longest
time
of the year. That day, that one day out of the year, was like my life
here
at Rider Hall.

If I left Rider
Hall, I would have to
work
like that again, sunrise to sunset just to keep alive. I don't want to
do that. I don't want to go back to slaving over hot fires or sitting
cramped
over small books writing down transactions. None of the people of my
village
have been educated, and only a handful can read or write. Asyah is
right;
what will I go back to? The siblings I had there aren't really mine
anymore;
the day Kiel took me from Shane's home our worlds cleaved. They will no
longer call me brother, just as I think less often of them with the
passing
days. In time, we will be only distant memories for one another. They
would
not willingly become my shadows again. Here at the Hall I have at least
one friend -- though after the way I spoke to her today I should be
surprised
if she wants to be friends again -- and I am given much of Kiel's time.
He and I are together more than he is with the other children who call
him father. And though, late at night, I some times hear them crying in
their sleep or whimpering for their mothers, I know the other children
would not go home.

Is it wrong for
him to bring them here?
Here,
none of these children will die of the childhood illnesses. Here they
will
grow up to read and write like the lords and ladies of distant
villages.
But they still cry at night and all have been here longer than I have.
They still miss what they have left behind, and probably some part of
them
always will. Nevertheless, there is no place for them in the world
below
these mountains, in the villages and towns in which they were born.
They
could find places only in their final destination, the place where
eventually
all but I will be offered the choice to go to -- the palaces of kings.
For every other child here but me, the future is to exist as teachers,
as sowers of knowledge among other peoples.

Why me? I wonder
again. From all I
understand
of Kiel, he is grooming me to be the next Leader of the Riders. What
would
be the wrong in that? At home, I could never have aspired to ride
dragon
back or live in a castle on a mountainside. At home I could only be a
candlemaker's
son, and then a candlemaker. At Shane's home, I could only expect a
long,
tiring life of endless repetition. Why should I want to leave this
place,
and how had Kiel wronged me by bringing me here? Only the painfully
silent
wound of leaving my family cuts through my days; all else they do here
helps me.

Somehow I feel
myself drawn closer to the
window.
I lean farther out, and looking down I see a thunderstorm has sprung up
and the valley is being bathed in rain that will turn roads to mud and
send children into their houses to sulk and wait for sunshine. How does
it feel, I wonder, to be those children ever looking up at this castle
but never brought here? How does it feel to be hired to serve Kiel and
not to know this place as home?

I turn around.
Asyah is standing at the
entrance,
poised on one foot, uncertainly turned as though to flee again. I hold
out a hand to her.

"I'm sorry. I
lied. I can't hate it
here."
I tell her. She smiles and steps further into the room. "Please, I will
be your brother and you will be my sister. Will you forgive me?"

Then she is at
my side, we are looking
out
the window together at the thunderstorm below us, and the sun is
shining
on our fingers resting on the windowsill.

"Would you like
me to help you a little
while
on your lessons in history, brother Arik?" She asks me shyly.

"Would you let
me help you in something
in
return?" I ask. "I am good in my numbers; do you need help?" She nods
and
we turn back to face again the dining hall. Kiel has entered and he
stands
where moments ago Asyah stood. Asyah runs to him, hugs him. He smiles
at
her, pats her hair. I step closer and bow once before him.

"I won't
disappoint you again, Father. I
just
learned the biggest lesson I needed to learn and all the rest is easy
now."
He holds out a hand, I accept it, and then he pulls me in and hugs me.

"I knew, in
time, you would understand."
He
replies softly. Then he steps back and places an arm around Asyah, and
I follow them from the dining hall.

4

Within a week, I
have learned, many
things
can happen that are almost unforeseeable. On the first day of this week
my father Kiel, who has been sick some time with a disease that leaves
him drifting in a half-life of dreams, returned enough to the present
to
give me the dragon medallion. He instructed Asyah and me to begin
taking
our sisters and brothers to the palaces where they will serve as
teachers.

Only once had I
ever tried to learn from
Kiel
the secret of the medallion. He merely laughed and would not tell me.
Once
I had it in my possession, I endeavored to study it yet found myself
foiled
in every attempt. Whatever secret Kiel knew, he is too weak to talk of
now and I curse the times when he was secretive. Rider Sorn told me,
after
Kiel gave me the medallion that it is only a symbol of power until time
comes to choose a new Rider. The eyes of the medallion glow whenever a
child is taken. Only when the time comes to select a new Rider does the
Queen speak to the leader, urging the leader with the medallion as to
whom
she has chosen. I admitted as much to him that his words made little
sense,
and he smiled and said that someday I would understand.

It seems those
words were the chorus of
my
years at Rider Hall.

By the third day
of the week, all but a
handful
of my siblings were delivered to the destinations Kiel and the other
Riders
chose for them. Then, Asyah and I were again tending our father in his
twilight hours. We listened to his broken ramblings though he did not
recall
our names. Daily he slipped further into silence. The other Riders
spent
much time in some strange fasting ceremony, and were more often at the
cavern with their mounts than I have seen them in the ten years I have
lived at Rider Hall.

Small patterns
of the old ways crumbled
with
Kiel. For five years my father has been fading slowly away and thus,
for
five years no new children have come to the Hall. This time of delivery
was my first time to ride with Asyah. Rider Sorn told me with worry in
his voice that by the time a Rider apprentice becomes a Rider he should
have spent many hours in the saddle. I am not yet a Rider, for Kiel is
too ill to hold the investing ceremony to initiate me. Asyah too is not
a Rider, and thus we can only become Riders by default -- I, when Kiel
dies, and she, when one of the other Riders retire. I would rather Kiel
live forever and give up any hope of riding on the Queen, but it cannot
be so. Kiel will never Ride again. The Old-timers of my village knew
not
what they said; the Riders are mortal. My father will die. Soon I will
take his mantle and become the Leader of the Riders. Asyah will ride
with
me, and I am glad she chose to stay for I rely more upon my sister's
level
head and support than upon any of the other of my father's children.
Seldom
has a woman been a Rider, but Kiel trained Asyah just as he trained me.
She could, I am certain, even ride the Queen if necessity called.
Riders
Sorn and Rikki asked me who else will stay; that, I did not know till
the
fourth day of this week when Asyah and I prepared to take the remaining
of our siblings to their new homes. One of my sisters, Kareen, and one
of my brothers, Caleb, approached me and asked if I would train them to
be Riders. I accepted, and they remained.

On the fifth day
of this week Sorn passed
away,
and with great mourning Riders Rikki, Julian, and Torrence took me to
the
burial ground of the Riders and we buried him. I miss my old master,
for
he of all of them beside Kiel was a friend to me. Thus, Asyah became a
Rider before me.

On the seventh
day of this week, Julian
summoned
Asyah and me to Kiel's side. We sat from sunrise till sunset, holding
his
hands and talking to him as one would to a young and injured child, and
he wept like a child most of that time. At sunset, however, he fell
into
what we knew would be his final sleep. We summoned all the Riders, and
Kareen and Caleb all dressed in Rider black for the final honoring of
our
leader and father. We held vigil until the moons rose and then like a
soft
sigh Kiel slipped from sleep to death. I covered his face with a
blanket,
and they left me to be alone in the room with him.

Thus here I sit,
holding my father's hand
and
thinking back over the life he lived, the life he revealed to me in
words
and in deeds. I think of this just and honest man who was driven by
what
he saw as burning necessity to rescue those trapped by poverty and
ignorance.
He especially longed to save those of my village and the villages in my
part of the world, for he told me often that we were among the most
troubled
of people.

I must soon
decide whether to collect
children
in the way my father taught me, the way he expected me to, the way he
chose.
Is that wrong? My father made certain we had all we could desire. He
loved
us and treated us as honored children, but he didn't see that we could
not forget our families in the wink of a dragon's eye. We were happy
here,
but he never realized we sometimes woke with tears on our faces,
longing
for a past we no longer belonged to, longing for something lost to us
forever.

I am Arik, and I
am my father's son. I
respect
and love Kiel for who he was and was not. I knew he did what he felt he
had to do. He couldn't save every child from ignorance, so he saved the
ones he could. Our melded family was special and loving, and we saw one
another as brothers and sisters, but can I do as Kiel did? Will the
Riders
continue through me, or die with him?

I knew when I
looked into Kiel's eyes
long
ago that I would someday be a Rider, that I would be offered a
wonderful
future here if I could bring my stubborn, childish self to accept it. I
look towards the door, and Asyah, Kareen, and Caleb stand there in
solemn
regard. I place my father's hand back on his sheet, and bend low to
kiss
his forehead. All he ever was is within me, and whenever I need his
guidance
I can turn to the strength he gave me. I knew that someday I would be a
Rider; Someday is now.

"Come, sisters.
Come, brother. Leave our
father
here for the Riders to care; we must go to the dragons." I say, and
they
follow me across the grand courtyard to the dining hall, from there to
the staircase and then down the stone stairs to the cavern. The Queen
has
awakened, and she stretches herself and looks to me. I pull the
medallion
away from my tunic and she moves to stand before me. She lowers her
face
to mine and for a moment I can see, in her green eyes, a shadow of
loss.
Then it is gone and she is mine until I, too, must surrender from life.

"What next,
brother?" Asyah asks me.

"Prepare your
mounts." I tell them. I
note
that Kareen and Caleb have also learned how to saddle the dragons,
though
I know not when they learned or who taught them.

"We ride
tonight?" Caleb asks.

I do not answer
him, merely point to the
capes
hanging on the stone wall. We each take one cape, don it, and then we
look
at one another. The vision conjures before me a nightmarish scene of my
own kidnaping, and then it is gone. I know that similar phantoms
visited,
then fled, my siblings. I give the keening cry. The dragons awaken and
follow us into the cove-like valley. I reach one hand to the back of
the
saddle, one hand to the front, and swing myself up onto the magnificent
Queen, remembering as I do so the night Kiel swung me up as though it
was
no effort for him. That visit, I realize, was special in that I was the
only child taken. In the few flights the Riders made before Kiel's
final
illness, children were always taken more than one at a time. I sit a
moment,
my head bowed against my Queen's graceful dark neck. Kiel brought us
here
to give us a better life. I will do as Kiel did, for there is happiness
here. I will make the transition easy as possible for those children
who
come, and I will only bring those who come willingly, but I will
continue
my father's tradition.

Thus decided, I
find I am light again and
can
smile. Kiel will live on, and my hands will not undo his work. I am
doubly
sworn to protect the villages of my part of the world against those who
might, without the ever-constant reminder of the Riders' presence,
attempt
to subjugate my peaceful people, and also to promote the knowledge that
Kiel tried so diligently to impart. My change of mood has lifted
forever
the traces of the fear I had when I was taken from my village. I am
once
again hopeful -- not hopeful in the way a young boy is hopeful, but
hopeful
in the way that only one who has found a purpose in life can give hope.

The only family
I have left in this
world,
my two sisters and my brother are together with me, each on a dragon.
We
are robed as Riders; we are mounted as Riders. Yes, I decide. We Ride
tonight.
The old is changed to new and I can honor my father in no better way
than
by doing as he wished. The future is bright even now in the hour of
darkness;
we will not abandon our father's light.

"We will Ride
tonight." I announce. I do
not
have to look at them to know they agree with me. I feel the dragon
moving,
power beneath me. Four dragons are mounted; five fly into the sky.
Torrence,
Rikki, and Julian have retired, and will spend their days as teachers
to
the children I bring home. I am looking for a fifth Rider to fill the
empty
saddle.